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CRACKDOWN CONTINUES DESPITE CONCESSIONS; WORLD PROTESTS

10 October 2007

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Dozens of marches around the world supported the people of Burma on the weekend, but the country's military government continued to arrest pro-democracy activists while seemingly relaxing its iron-grip on communications, report Mizzima News, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Burmese exile-run news sources and news reports.

As the United Nations Security Council met again on Burma on 9 October, news reports indicated that the security presence in Rangoon had been sharply reduced. But Reporters Without Borders (Reporters san frontières, RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) say that although four of the nine journalists arrested since the protests started in August have been released, they fear a renewed crackdown and more journalist arrests.

Police are arresting people using photos and videos of the demonstrations, including footage taken by plainclothes police, say Mizzima News, RSF and local news reports. The information ministry, the official news agency and the security forces have reportedly been told to work together to identify the "citizen journalists."

In the past week, Burma has allowed some access to the Internet, but restricted it to Burmese websites and email messages with Burmese addresses ending in .mm, RSF reports. But Mizzima News warns that open Internet connections can help the junta pinpoint where the signals are coming from and target critics. RSF also reports that many privately owned magazines have not yet reappeared on newsstands. Some are refusing to publish propaganda while others are waiting for the military censors to approve their next issue.

Meanwhile, people across the globe took to the streets last weekend to support the Burmese protesters. On 6 October, proclaimed as an international day of action for Burma, people marched in Mongolia, Malaysia, Thailand, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, Amnesty International reports.

In Tokyo, Japan, hundreds of people including Burmese exiles mourned the death of video journalist Kenji Nagai, who was fatally shot in Rangoon on 27 September. Footage smuggled out of Burma appeared to show a soldier shooting Nagai at point-blank range, but the regime says he was shot accidentally.

In Singapore, a leader and three other members of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) were arrested at a protest against the city-state's trade ties with Burma. In Sri Lanka, about 100 monks from five countries gathered near Colombo's United Nations compound to support the pro-democracy protests.

Avaaz.org launched what it called "a massive ad campaign in major newspapers," beginning with the "Financial Times" worldwide and the "South China Morning Post", to pressure China on Burma. Avaaz says more than 700,000 people have signed a petition aimed at China.

Human Rights Watch is calling for corporate action. "Companies doing business in Burma argue their presence is constructive and will benefit the Burmese people, but they have yet to condemn the government?s abuses against its own citizens," the organisation said. "Keeping quiet while monks and other peaceful protesters are murdered and jailed is not evidence of constructive engagement."

Restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly persist, amid the government's failure to contend with the range of rights-abusing laws that have been long used to criminalize free speech and prosecute dissidents.As part of the military's "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine State, where thousands of Rohingya Muslims face rampant and systemic human rights violations, the authorities denied independent journalists access to the region since early October.

An officer of the Myanmar army recently filed a criminal complaint against two journalists for allegedly sowing disunity among the military. Even though mediation by the Press Council caused the military to withdraw the case, this incident demonstrates how the military continues to throw its weight to get back at what it perceives as negative publicity.

The Broadcasting Law, approved in August, enabled private companies to enter the broadcast market for the first time. However, it maintains presidential control over the broadcasting sector, and the Broadcasting Council it established is susceptible to political interference.

The report surveys the rocky landscape for media and public discourse since the ruling military junta lifted the curtain on the southeast Asian nation in 2012 after five decades of isolation from the modern world.

As the election looms for later this year, incidents in 2014 and in early 2015 involving the press raises serious questions on the genuineness of media freedom in Burma. The situation is alarming as the state seems to have heaped all the faults and fines on the media in the past year, which has seen a media worker being killed in October on the pretext of national security. International assistance has poured into the country to develop the media aimed at lifting and sustaining the state of media freedom. However, a viable press freedom environment seems unlikely to materialise in Burma before the end of this administration.

There is some skepticism about how much influence Burma's youth movement can assert in terms of political change. Still, activists have benefited from greater access to the Internet, which has brought a new side to the online community after decades of heavy censorship

Burma is at a crossroads. The period of transition since 2010 has opened up the space for freedom of expression to an extent unpredicted by even the most optimistic in the country. Yet this space is highly contingent on a number of volatile factors.

The media landscape in Burma is more open than ever, as President Thein Sein releases imprisoned journalists and abolishes the former censorship regime. But many threats and obstacles to truly unfettered reporting remain, including restrictive laws held over from the previous military regime. The wider government’s commitment to a more open reporting environment is in doubt.

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